ToUAKS, orTHOUARS, a town of Franco, in the depart-ment of tne Two Sevres , 32 miles N. \V. of Poitiers, and 13 N.of Niort .
TOUCAN, or AMERICAN GOOSE, is one of the constella-tions of the southern hemisphere , consisting of 9 small stars.
TOUCH-NEEDLE, among nssayers, refiners, Sec. was littlebars of gold, silver, and copper, combined together in all the dif-ferent proportions and degrees of mixture.
T ouch stone, a black, smooth, glossy stone, formerly much•used to examine the purity of metals. The ancients called itLapis Lydim, the Lydian stone, from the name of the countrywhence it was originally brought. Any piece of pebble or black llintwill answer the purpose of the best lapis lydius of Asia . Even apiece of glass made rough with emery is used with success, to dis-tinguish true gold from such as is counterleit; both by the metal-lic colour and the test of aquafortis The true touch-stone is of ablack colour, and is met with m several parts of Sweden .
' TOULON, an ailcient city and sea-port of France, capital of the
• department of the Var. Before the revolution it was a bishop’ssee, and one of the chief cities of Provence . It had a cathedral,many churches, nine convents, a seminary, and a college. It was•originally built by the Remans, after their conquest of Gaul . Itwas destroyed about the end of the 10th century, and was hardlyrebuilt, when it was again pillaged bv African pirates. In 1524, itwas taken by the imperialists under the constable of Bourbon ; anilagain by Charles V. in 1536. It has been depopulated by llieplague, particularly in 1418, 1461, 1476, 1587, 4021, 1630, 1647,1664, and 1720. Yet notwithstanding these depopulations, itcontained about 80,000 citizens in 1789- It was highly improved,
■ornamented, and fortified, hy Lewis XIV. wlio employed thecelebrated Vauban to erect the strongest fortifications ; and con-structed a new haven, with an arsenal, containing every thing ne-cessary for shipbuilding, with a rope-work, an armoury, a foundery•for cannons, muskets, and all other warlike apparatus. The har-bour of Toulon is very spacious, and surrounded by hills, whichgive it the appearance of being almost circular. The entrance isdefended on both-sides by a fort with strong batteries. The greatprince Eugene besieged this city in 1707, but without success. InSept. 1793, however, it was surrendered by a party of French royalists to the British,admiral Lord Hood: who accordingly took•possession of it, in conjunction with the Spanish troops, in trust forLewis XVII.; in whose name Lord Hood promised the French a restoration of the constitution of 1789. But the French repub-licans, disregarding these offers, laid close siege to it, and notwith-standing the most heroic exertions made by the British and theirallies, and particularly by Sir Sidney Smith , Gen. O’Hara, and
• Capt. Hare, the garrison was obliged to evacuate Toulon in Dec.1793; after having destroyed the arsenal, and burnt or takenseveral ships of war. The loss on the part of the allies was very-great, vast numbers of the royalists being either drowned or fallinginto the hands of the French , while endeavouring to get on hoardthe British vessels. It was at this siege that Napoleon Bonaparte ,who afterwards became emperor of the French, king of Italy , pro-tector of the Rhenish Confederation, and mediator of the Swiss cantons, first signalized himself, being at that time only an officer inthe artillery I ! Toulon is seated on a bay of the Mediterranean : 45miles S. E. of Marseilles , and 51 S. E. of Aix. Lon. 5. 37. E.Lat. 43. 7. N.
TOULOUSE, a very ancient city of France , in the departmentof Upper Garonne, and province of Languedoc , 32 miles E.tof Audi, 125 S. E. of Bonrdeaux, and 350 S. W. of Paris . Lon.1. 27. E. I.at. 43. 36. N.
TOUR, Henrv r>E la, viscount Turenne , a celebratedFrench general, was the second son of Henry de la 'Four duke ofBouillon, and was born t Sedan in 1611. He made his first cam-paigns in Holland , under Maurice and Frederic Henry princes ofOrange;.who were his uncles by the mother’s side. In 1634 hemarched with Ins regiment into Lorraine ; and having contributed
• to the taking of La \lo<he, was, though very young, madewaresi hal de camp. In 1636 he took Saverne , and in 1637, thecastles of Iiirson and Sole. He continued to distingui-h himselfia several sieges and battles, and in 1644 was made marshal ofFrance ; but was defeated at the battle of Mariendal, in 1645.However, he gained tire'battle of Northngen three months af-tjer; restored the elector of Treves to his dominions; and in 1646
made the famous junction of the French army with that oi Sweden commanded hy general Wrangel, which obliged the duke- of Ba-varia to demand a peace. Bui that duke breaking tne treaty, liewas defeated byTurenne at the battle of Zumarriiausen, and in164S, driven entirely out of his dominions. During the civilwars in France he sided with the princes, and was defeated at thebattle of Rlietel in 1650: hut soon alter was restored to the favourof the king, who in 1652 gave him the cainmand of his army,lie acquired great honour at the battles ot Jergeau, Gree, and thesuburbs of St. Anthony, and by the retreat he made before thearmy commanded by the princes at Ville Neuve St. George. Ill1654 lie made the Spaniards raise the siege of Arras; in 1655 betook Conde, St. Guilian, and several other places; gained thefamous battle of Dunes; and made himself master ot Dunkirk ,Oudenarde , and almost all Flanders: this obliged (he Spaniards toconclude the peace of the Pyrenees in 1660 . These importantservices occasioned ins being made marshal general of the king’sarmies. The war being renewed with Spain in 1667, Turenne commanded in Flanders ; ami took so many places that in 1668the Spaniards w ere obliged to sue for peace. He commanded dieFrench army in the war against the Dutch in 1672 ; took 40 townsin 22 days, pursued the elector of Brandenburg even to Berlin;gained the battles of Sliotsbeim, Ladenburg , EuTieim, Mulhamen,and Tuikeim ; and obliged die Imperial army, of 70,000 men, tor- pass die Rhine . Bv this campaign he acquired immortal ho-nour. He passed the Rhine lo give battle to Gen. Montecuculi,whom he followed as far as Saspach ; but mounting upon an emi-nence to discover the enemy’s camp, he was killed by a cannon-ball in 1675.
TOI RAINE, a province of France , bounded on the N. bvMaine , E. by Oleaminis, S. by Berri, and \V. by Anjou ami Poitou";being 58 miies l< ng and 55 broad. It now forms the departmentof Indie and Loire Louis was the capital.
TOURNAMENT, a martial sport or exercise which the an-cient cavaliers used to pedorm, to shew their bravery and address.It is derived from the French word tourrnr, i. e. to turn round,became to be expert in these exercises, much agility both of horseand man was requisite, they riding round a ring 111 imitation of theancient Girci. The first tournaments were only courses on horse-back, when in the cavaliers tilted at each other with canes in themanner of lances; and were distinguished tioin justs, which werecourses or careers, accompanied with attacks and combats, withblunted lances anil swords. The prince wiio published the tour-nament, used to send a king at arms, with a safe conduct, and asword, to all the princes, knights, &e. signifying that he intended atournament and a clashing of swords, in the presence of ladies anddamsels; which was the usual formula of invitation. They firstengaged man against man, then troop against troop; and after thecombat, the judges allotted the prize to the best striker of swords;who was accordingly conducted in pomp to the lady ot the tourna-ment; where, after thanking her very reverently, he saluted hitand likewise her two attendants. These tournaments made theprincipal diversion of the 13th and 14th centuries.
TOURNAY, in geography, a city of the Netherlands , inFlanders , and a bishop’s see, seated on both sides the Scheldt, 1 imiles S. E. of Lisle, 30 S. VV. of Ghent , and 135 N. by E. ofParis . Lon. 3. 28. E. Lat. 50. 33. N.
TOURN EFORTIA, in botany, a genus of the pentandria ino-nogynia class and order. Natural order Asperifolis. Berry two-ceiled, two-seeded, superior, perforated at lop by two pores. Ithas 11 species, chiefly shrubs of South America .
TOURNIQUET, is an instrument formed with screws, forcompressing any part with rollers, &c. for the stopping of liaemor-rhagies. See Surgery.
TOURNON, a town of France , in the department of theAr-declie, and province of Danphiny Seated on the side of a mountain*bv the river Rhone. It is 40 nrles VV. of Grenoble , and 180 S. byl*T. of Paris . Lon. 4. 50. E. Lat. 45. 6 . N.
TOURN US, a town of France, m tne department of the Saone and Loire, seated ontheSaone; 12 miles S. of Chalons , and l3N. of M. 15 hi.
'LOURS, a very ancient, large and handsome city of France *in the department of the Indre and Loire , as it was previouslythe province of Tourains. Tours lies 52 miles N. E. of Poitiers *
sixty